A Cautionary Fable for Alan Benjamin and Friends

By Dave Winter

Introductory Note: This little bedtime story was written for the benefit of the leadership of the Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign (WERC), as a critique of their approach to the class struggle. For a more serious and substantive approach to the same subject matter, see Alan Benjamin’s Betrayal of the Class Struggle: A Compendium of Correspondence; An Open Letter to Alan Benjamin; and Flyer Distributed at WERC Teach-In in San Francisco (also available in Spanish).


Once upon a time, there was a herd of cows. The cows were kept by a nasty rancher who mistreated them, and hired cowboys to restrict their movements to one meadow. But they enjoyed being at the meadow, and tolerated the mistreatment as long as the grass at the meadow was good.

One day the cows heard a rumor that the rancher was planning to send some of them to the slaughterhouse, and that if the price of milk kept on going down, he would send even more cows to the slaughterhouse.

The cows were filled with fear and anxiety. They decided to have an emergency meeting. Among them lived a very smart bull. He even knew how to write. His name was Bennie. “Don’t worry,” Bennie told the frightened cows. “I will write a letter to the rancher and ask him to clarify this slaughterhouse business. I will also demand mercy and better grass.” There was a minority among the cows who were not content with Bennie’s proposals. “We should run away to the mountains and free ourselves from the evil rancher,” they said.


“This is not practical, and it is dangerous,” argued Bennie. “The cowboys will not protect us from mountain lions in the mountains. It is better to write letters to the rancher asking for mercy and no slaughterhouse.” The minority were defeated, and the cows felt better and went to sleep.

The next week, the cowboys gathered the cows and told them to shape up. “Only bad and disobedient cows will be sent to the slaughterhouse,” said the head cowboy. “So you had better be good, well-behaved cows. Oh, and I have good news,” continued the cowboy with a wicked smile. “The rancher is considering a stimulus package which includes a bigger meadow for you. You will have to accept a change that comes with the stimulus package, though. The meadow will be enclosed with a fence.”

The cows became bewildered and upset. The next emergency meeting was boisterous. The agitated minority argued one more time that they should run for the mountains right away, before the fence could be built. “We have to wait for the spring,” argued Bennie, “when the grass in the mountain is green. For now, we should try to delay the rancher’s plans by writing him another letter.”

The next day, the cows watched the rancher build the fence. The day after that, the cows stared helplessly as the evil rancher took their best brothers and sisters away to the slaughterhouse.

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